Cruise ship worker gets more than 30 years for devastating attack on passenger

She woke in the darkened cruise ship cabin to what she called "a human shadow trying to kill me with his bare hands."

She woke in the darkened cruise ship cabin to what she called "a human shadow trying to kill me with his bare hands."

For the next 30 minutes to an hour, she fought for her life as a room service attendant beat and choked her, tried to snap her neck, knocked her out, sexually abused her and tried to throw her into the ocean from the balcony of the moving ship.

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She survived to face him at his sentencing Wednesday, federal prosecutors say, only because of her extraordinary physical strength and training as an aerial acrobat and gym teacher.

Ketut Pujayasa, 29, who admitted his crimes, was sentenced to 30 years and five months in federal prison Wednesday for the Valentine's Day attack aboard a Holland America Line cruise from Port Everglades.

He used his master key to let himself into her cabin, hid on her balcony and attacked her, saying he wanted to punish her for what he claimed was an insult to his mother. About 17 hours before the attack, Pujayasa said he went to deliver breakfast to the passenger's stateroom and — after several knocks — she called out: "Wait a minute, son of a bitch."

The woman, a U.S. resident who is not being identified by the Sun Sentinel because of the nature of the crime, attended the sentencing but did not speak publicly.

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Prosecutors showed the judge disturbing photographs of the victim's injuries, which included fractures to her spine, skull and face. Her teeth were knocked out of place and her face was covered with broken blood vessels from Pujayasa's repeated attempts to strangle her.

The injuries left her performing below capacity on cognitive or intellectual functioning tests and it is unclear if she will ever fully recover, investigators said.

She now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and cannot be left alone for more than a few minutes.

"He has changed the way I live forever," she wrote. "He took my dreams, he took my independence, he took my self-esteem."

She laid her head on her mother's shoulder with her hair covering her face as Pujayasa turned to her and apologized during the sentencing in federal court in Miami.

"Thousands of sorrys will not be enough," Pujayasa told the woman, speaking through an Indonesian interpreter. "You can stab me, you can kick me, you can break all my bones in my body … I'm only human. Please, I beg you to forgive me."

"I'm fully aware that whatever punishment goes to me will not ever pay for the mistake that I made," he said, asking the judge to give him a "reasonable" sentence.

Pujayasa's mother and wife, who he married in April 2013, spoke on his behalf. He began to sob and hung his head as his mother began to speak.

His mother, whose honor he claimed he was defending, sobbed and put her hands together — as if in prayer — bowing to the victim, the judge and everyone in the courtroom as she begged for forgiveness and mercy for her son.

Speaking through the interpreter, both women said the Pujayasa they knew was simple, kind and gentle, and they had no inkling he was capable of such violence. Investigators agreed he had no criminal record.

Pujayasa's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Chantel Doakes, told the judge the case was the most difficult of her career but added her client showed nothing but remorse and accepted full responsibility.

Born in Bali, Indonesia, Pujayasa endured a "difficult and traumatic childhood," she said.

Raised to be a devout Hindu, he grew up in extreme poverty in a violent household in a village that had no electricity or running water.

"Many times Mr. Pujayasa's meal consisted mainly of boiled water and a little rice. Sometimes they ate rice that was discarded by other families in their village," Doakes said.

Medical care for the family was provided by a witch doctor. Pujayasa's father suffered from mental illness and was physically violent and verbally abusive to Pujayasa and his mother.

Pujayasa's father once "almost killed him with a butcher knife" and "hit him with a bundle of roof tiles" on another occasion, Doakes said.

Though federal sentencing guidelines recommended a punishment of 14 years to 17.5 years in prison, prosecutors asked the judge to lock him up for at least 30 years.

U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez imposed a sentence of 30 years and five months, citing Pujayasa's extreme conduct, the brutality of the attack and the devastating and lasting injuries the victim suffered.

Pujayasa, who pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated sexual abuse with no guarantee about the punishment he would serve, will be deported after serving his time. He must also undergo anger management and sex offender treatment in prison and register as a sex offender, the judge ordered.